Table 3.
Outcomes grades of evidence.
| Summary of results: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tele-exercise Versus Control for Different Outcomes | |||
| Population: Different adult populations including elderly people | |||
| Intervention: Tele-exercise synchronous and Asynchronous | |||
| Comparison: Control/Pre-Post | |||
| Outcomes | Impact | Participants | Certainty of the evidence |
| (Study design) | (GRADE) | ||
| Physical Fitness | Although the outcome physical fitness was affected by the downgrade, it still holds a moderate level of recommendation, especially for key target populations such as the elderly and healthy adults. The moderate rating indicates that, despite some uncertainty regarding the exact magnitude of the benefits, there is sufficient evidence to support tele-exercise interventions aimed at improving physical fitness in these populations. The strength of the recommendation is high, reflecting the potential impact of these interventions despite some methodological limitations and heterogeneity in the studies. | 1,416 (11 ECRs) (2 not Randomised) (2 Quasi-experimental) | ⊕⊕⊕○ Moderatea |
| Quality of Life | The downgrading of the quality of life outcome was necessary due to the heterogeneous nature of the studied populations and the low methodological quality of some studies. Therefore, we consider the strength of the recommendation to be low. | 245 (5 ECRs) (1 Quasi-experimental) | ⊕⊕○○ Lowa,b |
| Functional Capacity | Although the outcome functional capacity was impacted by the downgrade, it still maintains an important level of recommendation, especially for specific target populations such as the elderly and healthy adults. The moderate rating suggests that, while there is some uncertainty regarding the exact magnitude of the benefits, there is sufficient evidence to support tele-exercise interventions aimed at improving functional capacity in these populations. The strength of the recommendation is high. | 365 (5 ECRs) | ⊕⊕⊕○ Moderatea |
| Strength | The downgrading of the strength outcome was necessary mainly due to the small sample size, the nature of the tests used, and the methodological quality of some studies. | 127 (3 ECRs) (1 not randomized) | ⊕⊕⊕○ Moderatea,b,c |
| Pain | Although the outcome of pain was affected by the downgrade, it still holds a moderate level of recommendation, especially for the adult population and in the context of synchronous tele-exercise. The moderate rating indicates that, despite some uncertainty regarding the exact magnitude of the benefits, there is sufficient evidence to support tele-exercise interventions aimed at improving pain, with a high strength of recommendation. | 811 (3 ECRs) | ⊕⊕⊕○ Moderated |
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence | |||
| High certainty: we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect. | |||
| Moderate certainty: we are moderately confident in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. | |||
| Low certainty: our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect. | |||
| Very low certainty: we have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect. | |||
Explanations.
a
Due to the heterogeneity of the population and the different protocols used for tele-exercise and assessment.
b
Due to the low methodological quality found in some studies.
c
Reduced number of studies.
d
Failure in blinding of the assessor and other risks of bias.